The court directed Fawad to submit surety bonds worth Rs10 million to avail the bail.
An LHC division bench – comprising Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi and Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad – heard the post-arrest bail petition filed by Fawad.
As the proceedings resumed, Fawad's counsel argued that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested his client in 2018, but still he was not indicted in the case.
He submitted that it was claimed that at the time of arrest, Fawad owned assets of billions of rupees, but assets worth Rs108 million only were mentioned in the NAB reference.
Earlier, it was alleged that the petitioner possessed many properties, but details of the properties were not made part of the reference, he added.
He submitted that the bail plea was dismissed earlier by an LHC bench as the matter was under investigation. But, now the reference had been filed.
“All allegations against my client have proved baseless,” he contended, pleading the court to grant bail to the petitioner.
However, the NAB prosecutor opposed the plea, saying that the accused owned benami properties, which were in the name of his relatives.
Justice Abbasi asked why the bureau did not arrest three benami co-accused in the case.
It was alleged that at the time of arrest, Fawad had 14 bank accounts, then why those were not made part of the reference, he added.
In response to a court query about the stance adopted by Fawad's wife during investigation, the NAB prosecutor submitted that Fawad's wife stated that she was a housewife while the plaza shown as his property was owned by a company.
The court asked the NAB prosecutor about the stance adopted by Fawad's brother.
“Did any relative say that Fawad owned the property,” he asked.
The NAB prosecutor submitted that no one made such a statement.
The bench expressed annoyance at this, observing that the bureau had arrested one who owned nothing.
“Nothing on record could establish any involvement of Fawad Hassan Fawad with the stance of NAB in the assets beyond means case,” Justice Abbasi remarked.
Subsequently, the bench granted bail to Fawad and directed him to submit surety bonds worth Rs10 million.
The petitioner had submitted that he had been behind bars for the last 15 months and his health had also deteriorated during detention period.
He submitted that the bureau had alleged that he owned a plaza in Rawalpindi valued at Rs5 billion and bank accounts, but it could not produce a single evidence so far.
He said, in fact, the plaza was owned by a company of petitioner's brothers and other family members.
He pleaded the court for his release on bail as the trial had not been completed for over 15 months of his arrest and detention in jail on judicial remand.
It was the second petition by Fawad for the post-arrest bail in the assets beyond means case.
The LHC granted bail to Fawad in Ashiana-e-Iqbal case, but denied bail in the assets case on February 14, 2019.
NAB decides to approach SC
On the directions of NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, the Lahore bureau has decided to approach the apex court against the LHC’s decision of granting bail to Fawad.
According to NAB investigation, the accused has been unable to reveal the sources of assets worth more than Rs1.9 billion so far.
It is further stated that the accused had bought an eight-kanal commercial plot worth over Rs1.17 billion in GPO Chowk, a prime location in Rawalpindi, in 2013. Later, a 15-storey plaza was constructed on the property. The cost of the construction is estimated to be over Rs1.93 billion, while at least Rs20.5 million has been spent in connection with other expenses. The accused returned the loan of Rs600 million along with Rs500 million interest.
The total expenditure of the project was figured out at Rs4.56 billion, according to NAB. However, only Rs3.45 billion was shown as loans taken from different banks.
Investigation revealed that the total income of Fawad’s family from 2010 to 2017 was only Rs20.05 million according to the complete tax records.
Fawad created a firm – FYC – in the name of his family members – wife, brother and sister-in-law in 2006. Later, loans were taken from banks for the construction of a commercial plaza in Rawalpindi under the company’s name.
According to NAB, the accused has not yet been able to provide any explanation of the amount of Rs1.09 billion transferred to his family.
In addition, the NAB investigation revealed that the accused had also bought Sprint Services Rawalpindi Limited (SSRL), a proxy company, in 2013, allegedly for illegal transactions.
They continued to use the SSRL as a front company whose main purpose was to whiten all capital, including money laundering and layering, according to the NAB investigation.
Millions of rupees had been deposited in the account of the same company at different times, but according to its employees, the cash was later used in the construction of the plaza.
Further, Fawad had obtained a loan of Rs50 million in the name of his wife and had purchased three luxury vehicles for their personal use.
Fawad’s wife also continued to receive monthly salary of half a million rupees from the same company. In addition, according to the company’s record, his wife also received Rs10.05 million from the company in 2015 under the head of additional expenses.
A team of NAB prosecutors is deliberating all these facts and other legal aspects to challenge the LHC decision in the apex court. (With additional input from app)
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